Thursday 12 November 2009

EU Presidency

Infokemp's Blog

Why the European Union must learn from the USA constitution but not copy it.

The Lisbon Treaty, has created the post of European Union Council President and foreign minister but what will the nature of this post be.
A good indication will be, which sort of person and expertise they have, is chosen for the role.
If Tony Blair is chosen it will be a high profile foreign policy orientated role which will have the public view of being similar to the US Presidents role, which is also foreign policy orientated.
Indeed the US President has little domestic influence, any interference in domestic law making is viewed by the US citizenry (In the US you are a citizen with rights and obligations, as opposed to UK subjects) as immoral.
The preservation of the separate powers of the executive, law making legislature; the congress & Senate which makes law and the courts, the Judiciary, which carries out law. Law enforcement is part of the executive as it enforces policy.
The separate powers are key to avoiding a Imperial Presidency, turning President into Kingship as Lenin & Hitler did. George W. Bush's doctrine argued for a fusing of powers and it has long been a dream of the many of the US political class to fuse the executive legislature and Courts together just as in the UK Parliament. This what Carol Quiggley called the secret weapon of the House of Parliament and Palace of Westminster.
Yet the US constitution already fuses two separate role, in the minds of both the British nations and European nations, that is the role of the US President as both head of the executive and the head of state.
The European Unions president is only head of a European council which is chosen by the elected leaders of the member states.
There is an immediate cross over of policy roles because up to now the head of the EU commission has been the figure head of the EU, namely Barroso, this role is rotated between the member nations for instance in November 2009 it will soon be the Swedish governments role to be in charge of the EU.
This rotation of power is a strength that should not be lost in the process of changing the EU into a quasi-nation-state. A true EU Presidency should be modeled on the German constitution for it has both the best elements of Republican Rome, the Great British system and the US constitution.
The EU should separate the role of head of state from that of the executive, the legislature and executive should be fused i.e in a Parliamentary federal system where their are two rounds of votes the first by proportional representation and then an eliminating round by first past the post. This would chose the main political party and a preference for a particular person to become Chancellor of the EU. Certain parties during the proportional representation round could be chosen for certain ministries for instance Green for the environment. This would effectively mean that the EU would always have some form of coalition government but that the key posts of the executive would be held by the strongest party with the most votes from the second round of voting.
The people however would be sovereign under the law, direct democracy would under the Lisbon Treaty allow petition, as in Sweden, that could become law, this could challenge ideological blocks as it would be issue based politics. The national parties from national Parliaments would be the main parties in the Federal European parliament in broad ideological blocks from these parties the Chancellor would be voted in as part of a party whilst the people would then directly elect the Chancellor from that Party.
The European Union would be organized on a local regional level into Lander or County councils each with an assembly and two assembly ministers for that region those ministers for all the regions would elect the President, the head of state for the EU. In this way the President who would be a cultural figure head but with the oversight of the role of Chancellor would be elected by representatives of local regions. This prevents an imperial presidency and also executive tyrany by the Chancellor of the EU by bring the role of head of state to local political representative who could lobby for the impeachment of the Chancellor for Treason Corruption Executive tyrany or other high crimes.
Through out the whole system their must be oversight by national regional and the direct democracy of the people themselves of the Chancellor and the President. However the business of government cannot be made too complicated. If government cannot function then undemocratic policy steering groups of lobbists can form that steer policy out of the hands of the nation and into special interests. The EU must have some corporatism and good corporatism is the co-opertive movement unions and good business modles but rightfully so critism of the EU UK and US systems are that lobbyist are often a front for organized crime. You only have to see the case of the lobbyist and advisor to Belesoni who had links to the mafia to see why Naples and Scilliy are being given billions in construction funds for buildings that are never completed or renovated. True also is the revolving door of US politicians who join politics only to get high paid jobs with few hours work, after lobbying for the oil or industrial military complex which is the basis of the US economy.
The President of the EU is head of state and as a cultural figure head but he or she must be the chief law enforcer over the Chancellor.
Organized crime and then Terrorism which is a tactic of organized crime is our greatest enemy and it is the subject on which the EU and US government executive must work together on.
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